cicada

This is a painting of cicada I just finished for an art swap. I am excited to see what kind of painting I get from the swap. The tricycle that I posted last week sold within one day after a friend from New York contacted me with the simple initial message "I like it, I want it." It was really exciting for me to have someone express such a strong interest in something I just completed.

Tricycle

It's finished! The photo is not the greatest (sorry) but I am so excited to have it completed. The background is made up of maps from a recycled Harley Davidson road atlas. The tricycle is made up of small pieces of color from recycled books and magazines.

building a tricycle

So I finally pulled out the mixed media tricycle piece I was working on before I left New York and began working on it again yesterday. The poor bike looks like it has seen better days, to many miles over the road I suppose. I really don't care for the handlebars on the right side I think I am going to try to change the tonal values to better reflect what is happening on the left side.

So I have been doing art swaps on swap bot for a couple of weeks now, It has been a great way to stay motivated to create art everyday. I just finished up this little guy 3.5x5 and mailed him out yesterday. I am hoping to make a much larger version of him sometime in the future.

jumping in

Hello, I decided to start this blog after a suggestion from my dear friend Jen, in New york. She suggested I start this blog so she and others that might be interested could follow my progress as I work my way through the creative process.

Art is my sanity without it I would be picking flowers off wallpaper in an insane asylum somewhere.

I have been creating art for as long as I can remember. I have studied at the Art Student League in New York, The Peterson Art Center and Salt Lake Art Center in Utah, but my best training came in the studio of my friend and mentor Robert Rumel.

I have had the fortune to have had a few shows over the years but mostly I enjoy sharing my art through art swaps, facebook and my website https://sites.google.com/site/bobstriksfineart/

Anyway, I will be posting updates with pictures as I work my way through the creative process and look forward to your company along the way.